Repairing What's Broken
by KatHarkness-Katara
Summary: After escaping Slade's apprenticeship, Robin's a little bit...broken. But someone's come to Titans Tower to get some answers. Fluff.
1. Chapter 1

This is set almost immediately post-Apprentice. Might technically be a crossover. Un-beta'd, so apologies for any typos.

**Repairing What's Broken**

The Teen Titans were physically and emotionally wrung out. After reclaiming Robin from Slade's clutches, they thought their day had peaked. Until they got home, and found a tall dark figure waiting for them.

"Robin," Batman said, eyes immediately going to his partner. "Care to explain?"

The other Titans shifted nervously, no doubt wondering exactly what was going on between their leader and his mentor. Robin didn't reply, merely pulling something from his belt and holding it out as his explanation.

Batman felt his eyes grow wide at the sight of the slender chain with two gold bands and a little black lacquer bat pendant. He'd bought the chain when Dick came to live with him, so the boy could wear his parents' wedding rings, and the bat when the adoption came through. But what alarmed him were the broken ends.

It had been forcibly yanked from his neck.

Automatically, he thought back to when he thought Dick would do that himself.

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"_Stop controlling my life!"_

_Dick's angry voice rang through the cave, startling the bats from their perches in a rattle of wings. The young acrobat turned vigilante stood glaring at his mentor, bitterly furious that yet another attempt to hang out with his fellow teenage heroes had been interrupted for a dull, routine stakeout and patrol. As Bruce watched, slightly horrified, his hand slipped under his tunic and pulled out the rings and pendant, the chain straining and starting to bite into his neck._

_Then he opened his hand, and instead he stared at the collection of trinkets. "You're my father, Bruce, and all children are what their parents make them," he explained. "But now I have to be true to my Mom and Dad. I have to fly free. Why can't you see that?"_

_Bruce was silent, reading the regret-tinged longing in his son's face. "If that's the way it must be," he murmured. "Then go. Contact me when you're settled. We can sort something out. But just remember that your most valuable commodity is your identity. And that you'll always have a home here in Gotham."_

_Dick nodded, dropping his necklace back onto his chest. "Thank you, Bruce. I'm sorry. I guess I'll miss you."_

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Batman absently read the confusion on the other Titans' faces. They didn't know the significance of the necklace. No-one did, except the two Gotham vigilantes and Alfred. And presumably whoever had torn it from Robin's neck. "Let's see if I can fix that," he said, holding out his hand.

Robin glided forward; depositing the chain in Batman's outstretched hand and moving past him to curl up on the couch. Batman sat next to him, examining the broken ends of the chain. "It's not too bad. It'll just take a few minutes." He pulled out his lock-picks, clearly seeing a new use for them.

The Titans gathered in the kitchenette, futilely asking each other if this was normal, if this was what was to be expected. But they had no answers, and so resorted to shooting glances at the motionless Robin sat hugging his knees to his chest, and the feared Batman tenderly repairing a piece of jewellery.

"There," Batman said, lifting the repaired chain and undoing the still-intact clasp. When Robin looked up, he reached out and fastened it around his son's neck. Their hands met as they both touched the trinkets resting on Robin's chest.

"It hardly shows," Bruce murmured, gauging the pain in his boy's eyes and face, reaching out the only way he knew; with simple actions and non-invasive statements. Sure enough, Robin's eyes watered, then he threw his arms round Batman's waist, buried his head on his father's chest and wept. Batman held him close, knowing that he'd have his answers when Robin- Dick- was ready.

"Guess we should leave them to it, huh?" Cyborg muttered, herding his teammates out of the kitchen to let Robin repair his broken heart.


	2. The Morning After

**AN: I was not intending to write this. I was perfectly happy with the first one. But I was reading Glimare's "Slade Plan B" (for the fourth time or something) and a few things fell into place. While this doesn't tie in with Plan B, it's worth a read. Anyway, this formed itself, and I figured I might as well share. Un-beta'd, so possible typos. Once you've read, please review, and feel free to check out my other, mostly Bat, stories.**

**RWB 2: The Morning After**

The next morning, Robin was quiet, a little withdrawn, but less worn down and pain filled than the previous night. Raven could sense that whatever had been said last night between him and Batman had been incredibly cathartic, so while he was still feeling the emotional effects of his 'apprenticeship', he was also moving on.

It was plain that he wanted the chat to stay private; but either Cyborg and Beast Boy hadn't noticed, or they just didn't care, as they tried to prize details out of him. He alternately ignored them and told them to leave off as he moved around making breakfast, until Starfire took over. "Friend Robin," she said, "What is that necklace you wear? I have never seen it before, and I thought it was the custom for boys on Earth to not wear jewelry."

"It's not that uncommon," he replied, sitting down on one of the stools at the kitchen bar. "Normally either for sentimental reasons, or because it's cool."

"And your necklace is cool?" Starfire asked innocently.

"Not exactly, Star," Cyborg said. "So what's the attachment?"

Robin considered the answer carefully. "You know how people are who they are largely because of their parents?" he said. At slightly dubious looks from Starfire, Beast Boy and Raven, he amended it. "Well, whoever raises them. "That's what it means." He pulled out the necklace in question, fingering each trinket in turn. "Mom. Dad. Batman."

"Gold loops mean your Mom and Dad?" Star asked in confusion.

"They're wedding bands," Cyborg told her gently."

"Dude, does that mean your parents are-" Beat Boy started.

"Not a topic of conversation," Robin said firmly.

An awkward pause. "Why did you show it to Batman?" Raven asked eventually.

"I hardly ever take it off. I'd never rip it off." Robin shook his head slightly. "He knows that. He knows that I think that's tantamount to denying who I am. So showing him that someone had ripped it off…"

"You were telling him someone tried to change who you are," Cyborg finished.

"Yeah." He ducked his head, rubbing the rings and bat gently.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Starfire asked.

He looked at her strangely. "I…didn't think it would be appropriate."

"But we're friends!"

"He's right, Star," Beast Boy explained. "Some things you discuss with family, but not friends. I mean, there's stuff I'd talk about with the Doom Patrol, but not you guys. No offense."

Robin shrugged. Cyborg started to say something, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Mail!" someone yelled.

They all got up and rushed to the door. The mail man handed over the usual sack of assorted fan mail, and said, "There's another big heavy package for Robin. Can you give me a hand getting it out of the van?"

"Sure," Robin said, but Cyborg held him back.

"I'll get it," he said.

They all gathered around the coffee table where Cyborg set the box down. Robin pulled out a birdarang and slit the tape, opening it up. On the top was a card with the simple legend: "Thinking of you. B." Beneath were coils of rope, some wooden sheets and what looked like thin cudgels. But Robin's face brightened up at the sight, a grin starting to spread across it. "I think I'll need a little help setting this up," he said.

"Uh, sure," Cyborg said, picking up the box again. "Where?"

"Gym."

"What is it, friend Robin?" Starfire asked.

"You'll see," he replied, now grinning sufficient to give the Cheshire cat a run for its money.

It took nearly an hour to get it set up right. It was obvious why Robin wanted help; most of the ropes hung from the ceiling, a good thirty feet up. "Gonna tell us what it is now?" Beast Boy asked, surveying the structures.

Robin grinned again. "How about I show you?" He pulled off his cape, gloves and boots, then retrieved a roll of some sort of tape from the bottom of the box and wrapped it around his hands and bare feet, then swiftly scrambled up a rope ladder to a platform at least twenty feet in the air. Then he leapt into the void.

Below, his friends gasped. Starfire was six feet up and climbing in a second, Raven conjured a new platform just below the falling bird and Beast Boy turned into an over-sized falcon. But Robin somersaulted forward, grabbing the nearest hanging bar, holding a handstand for a fraction of a second, then swinging up, flipping and hooking his knees over the next bar.

The others froze, watching with their mouths (and beak) hanging open as their leader flipped, somersaulted and swung through the air, hardly registering the distance between himself and the floor below. Finally, he took a larger than normal swing, tumbling over the fifteen feet across and ten feet down from the farthest bar to the lowest platform and turning a somersault, going head-over-heels once, twice, three times, four, before landing gently. He turned around, a smirk playing across his lips, and bowed theatrically. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you've been a wonderful audience," he said.

"Friend Robin!" Starfire squealed. "Why do you do this? It is so high up and you can't fly. What if you fell?"

"Seriously?" He jumped up and swung upwards, coming to rest fifteen feet up and hanging upside down by his knees. "Star, I'm one of the best in the world. Why did you think I was named after a bird? This is how I fly"

"But-"

"You never noticed the way I move when we're crossing rooftops? This is the source of that, the source of my fighting style, all of it. This is who I am; crime-fighter and aerialist."

As the non-powered, yet far from normal teen swung there, Raven reached out to his emotions again. While there was still a lot of pain and grief from Slade, and the trapeze had brought up new painful memories, the joy of flying through the air and the many, many pleasant remembrances associated with it drowned them up. He wasn't completely healed yet, but the emotional breaks were knitting together, giving him peace.


End file.
